BB FANS

Doesnt have to be famous, but anyone that you have taken inspiration from and who has influenced the way you see the world.

For me, its Bob Geldof. I read his autobiography (up until and including Live Aid) as a 15 year old, and whilst its a fairly graphic read, its gritty and real and honest. I have gone back to it several times during adulthood and read it again, because I find him and his work absolutely fascinating.

Not only did he get the ball rolling on the biggest worldwide charity event in our lifetimes, but has consistently pushed for change against poverty in the third world and has used his public persona to do great things, in a way that people related to and understood.

His passion for what he does is relentless, and amongst all that he has a big enough heart to get past the fact that his wife left him for another man, but to then take in the child borne from that relationship and bring her up with her sisters and provide them with a stable home environment in what must have been a fairly crazy situation at the best of times is a mark of the kind of man he is. His outspoken blunt attitude has got him far and has made the sort of changes and exerted an unstoppable influence that you or I can only dream of having on the world around us.

Who do you rate and why?

George Best. He's done it all.

Well I'm not sure about George Best myself NM. I resent that he got a liver transplant when my own loved ones didn't and then he carried on drinking. I appreciate that alcoholism is a disease but it's hard to be objective when 2 of your closest friends die (2 years apart) when another person threw their chance away. Also, I wonder what did he do? He was good at sport, he was handsome, he was charismatic but I don't see that as being a reason to idolise him. I certainly hope he survives tho, and I hope you don't think that I'm having a dig at you just bcz I don't agree with your appreciation of him.

Me? Marilyn Monroe. I love her compassion, beauty and sentiments. Also, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Einstein and Mother Teresa

and BOB GELDOF! I saw him play once when I was 16 and it was awesome! and I agree with Mrs.M's sentiments wholeheartedly! Well said!

My gran. She raised 7 children; working all the hours God sent, and fought off cancer twice and was a wonderful gran and friend.

If I'm half the woman she is, then I will be happy.

no dig taken. Admiration for George is that he lived a life. There are so many people who are born and then just spend the rest of their life pottering about waiting around to die near enough. At least when George gets to the Pearly gates and gets asked what he's done in life, he'll be there for hours. And by all accounts, George met all the criteria for the transplant and given his celebrity, it was even more difficult for him to qualify for the reasons that you mention.

My mum and dad. They gave me and my sister the best childhood I could ever hope for, they continue giving us all the support and help and love we could ever need. They've been wonderful rolemodels and in addition to all this they've built a successfull company from scratch, took it through some quite hard times in the business world back in the early 90's and are now leading the biggest private corporation in the area in our line of business. I'm so proud to say they're my parents

I honestly cannot think of any living person I admire or aspire to be.It sounds awful but I really cannot think of somebody I've drawn inspiration from.I'm just me am afraid.

Do you know anything about this? As for myself I know nothing about it. What criteria do you have to fulfill to get a liver transplant? I genuinely don't know but I'd like to know.

Why would being a celebrity be a detriment? I'd have thought it was an advantage?

I'm glad you knew that I was not having a dig at you tho. I just like George Best and I think he's cool but I'm hurt that my own two loved ones didn't get a liver transplant that might have saved them. I'm glad he got the transplant - how could you not be glad about something that has the potential to save life.

What p*sses me off is that why give the transplant without intensive counselling or whatever to stop him going back on the alchohol? Don't they have any kind of selection process that says if the prospective recipitent is likely to carry on the behaviour that got him there then he needs extra support and shouldn't get the transplant untill he's likely not to waste it. No disrespect to him. Just thinking that give it where it's needed most and treat each case as an individual situtation.

I dont know enough about transplant selection to make comment, but I would hazard a guess that they wouldnt have had him as a suitable candidate unless he was dry at the time of the transplant and had undertaken to remain so afterwards, particularly when dealing with someone so high profile.

Many families such as yours express similar feelings to you, that it was "a waste" to allow him a transplant where their loved one would have benefitted. Thats completely understandable, but the hospitals are in no position to police a persons behaviour after they have been released from hospital, and can only advise as to what actions are the most appropriate in each circumstance.

Having had the misfortune to live in the same house as several alcoholics in the past (Im sorry, I dont make this stuff up...) I understand a little about what sort of a disease it is. It really IS a disease. In my experience, an alcoholic will tell you to your face that they havent had a drink, when they have, will tell you they dont have a drink problem, when they have, and will go to ANY lengths to hide the fact that they do, by secreting alcohol in places of "safety", and drinking secretly. An alcoholic will believe they are telling you the truth, when they are not. They can be staggering around falling down the stairs drunk, and still claim to be completely sober.

I dont have enough information about George Best to be able to pass judgement or comment on how hes lived his life post transplant. As I understand it, his current health problems are as a result of medication he had to take to stop his transplant rejecting, the liver takes impact from the majority of medications in some way because most of them pass through there at some point on the way out. I only know this because a member of my family has suffered fairly extensive liver damage as a result of taking a drug relating to his heart condition.

That said, theres been no end of tabloid stories about him falling out of hotels, and whatnot, and being robbed by prostitutes, since the transplant, so it wouldnt be unreasonable to suggest that he has been drinking again since the transplant and that he never got the message that he was being given a second chance at life.

Either that , or he only heard half the message "You have a second chance at life, but not the way you lived it before". And has proceeded to throw himself into a second chance at his life. I dont know, I really dont know enough about him to comment.

I just dont think we can hold the doctors responsible for GBs apparent behaviour. At the time, they must have believed him to be the most appropriate candidate for the transplant. Otherwise someone else would have got it, celebrity or not.

I was involved in one of the first liver transplants outside of Kings college hospital.It was a very rare and costly operation to perform requiring a lot of support staff including laboratory staff.At that time it was necessary to have an sombody on call in blood transfusion to support as each operation could use 100+pints of blood.The first one I worked on was a 16 yr old who had taken a paracetamol OD..and was as such controversial.However,it's not hospital staffs duty to pass judgement on individual cases.
Going back to your q,Molly.Each individual case is assessed according to a number of criteria,most likely tissue/blood type match.And even the area you live in.A persons lifestyle should not be a criteria on which they are judged and surgeons have heartrending decisions to make.
It is quite possible that if your friends had primary liver cancer(incredibly rare) they may have not been candidates.Liver cancer is extremely aggresive and by the time an organ was available,your friends may not have been well enough for the op to proceed.If it was secondary liver cancer,again,they'd be even less likely to be candidates.Having a secondary is in the brain or liver is more than likely terminal and at this point only palliative care would be offered for most cases

Have to say that one of the people I admire most at the moment is Jane Tomlinson, the woman with terminal cancer who is running marathons/raising money for cancer research etc.
While I find it a challenge to even spend 10 minutes on my cross trainer exerciser thingy, she just goes out and gets on with it - even with a terminal condition.
Inspirational.

Thank you Pikey that was very very useful to me. I read up on liver-cancer after my first friend was diagnosed and I assume it was secondary bcz as you say, it's rare for the liver to be a primary target, the blood passes though the liver and any cancer 'seeds' (forgotten the exact name) end up lodged there was my interpretation. You are right. She did get ill very quickly. It was only about 6 weeks after the diagnosis. She went yellow and saw the doctor within days and maybe this is why she didn't get offered a transplant. As I say it's hard to be objective but it is a comfort to think that it was a genuine medical reason for her not to get offered it rather than bcz none of us thought to 'demand' it. Kind of takes the edge off the guilt a bit. My other friend was younger so I don't know if we'll have an autopsy due to his age.

Sorry I appreciate this is a games thread and not the self-help Tricia Goddard section so in an effort to get back on topic I'll say Jane Tomlinson bcz as TD says - she is an inspiration.

I DO know how you feel about being cheated,Molly.My dad died of a secondary liver tumour and with my mum the secondaries were to the brain.(Unlike most primary brain tumours ,the majority of which are benign),a secondary tumour is inoperable.The end was mercifully 'quick' for them(i.e. didn't go on for years) but it was still agonising to watch and feel so helpless.But I cannot change things that happened.I can only accept everyone involved did the best they can at the time with the available resources.It's the only way to move forward.